


Merry Crisis

by Haewkes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1980s, Baby Harry, Christmas, F/M, First War with Voldemort, M/M, Marauders' Era, War Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 06:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9058879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haewkes/pseuds/Haewkes
Summary: There had been weeks of planning going on to get to this moment. Starting at the end of November when Lily had erupted in hormonal tears and had begged James to 'create a distraction from all threats and make his Lily happy again.'At least, that was what the letter, which Sirius had received from his best friend, had said. He read it to Remus, who thought for a bit and then proposed; "Why don't we celebrate Christmas together?"And that had been their best idea.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sterrenschijnsel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sterrenschijnsel/gifts).



> To my Moony-
> 
> Happy Christmas everyone!

There had been weeks of planning going on to get to this moment. Starting at the end of November when Lily had erupted in hormonal tears and had begged James to 'create a distraction from all threats and make his Lily happy again.'

At least, that was what the letter, which Sirius had received from his best friend, had said. He read it to Remus, who thought for a bit and then proposed; "Why don't we celebrate Christmas together?"  
And that had been their best idea.

A real _muggle_ Christmas, with great emphasis on the muggle part. Wizardry was forbidden, magic was the opposite of distraction. Both James and Sirius were put to tasks that they had never heard of before. Buy fake snow? Plushy Christmas hats? Fairy lights that ran on el-lec-tri-cy. In the end, Lily, Remus and Peter had taken it out of their hands after they had searched for a _Christmas_ _tree_ for a solid two weeks without result.

'Oh a spruce fir!' Said James, the stag forest god, and promptly transfigured their striving houseplant into a enormous evergreen. And in that moment everyone agreed that since it was already Christmas eve, and there was enough work to be done, this piece of magic could be condoned.

"At least decorate it without magic" Lily had said, kissing her husband on the cheek. And Sirius and James had turned at each other with equal horror in their eyes, because, how did one decorate a tree without the use of toilet paper?

But this was were Wormtails came in handy, and he showed them that the ornaments and fairy lights they had collected the last few weeks actually had had an use.

As they dragged the boxes with decoration down, Peter made them all trip over the bundle of lights he was holding. But then again, that were where Wormtails were for as well.

Sirius had managed to save himself, generously only having carried the garland, and James was holding a ornamental ball, now slightly dented.

"Plastic." Sirius snorted.

"Sod off, Pads." He muttered, "They happen to be brilliant. Do you know how dangerous glass balls can be in the hands of tiny toddlers?"

Sirius burst out laughing and peeled away one of the strings of garland, which he had thrown around his neck like a scarf. "Prongs, your son is barely five months old. There's still gasps from excitement whenever he sits up straight. How in Merlins name is he going to grab a ball out of a tree?"

"It's precautionary!" James said stubbornly.

"For when he starts walking around between now and the end of tonight?"

James was huffing indignantly, and took another scarlet plastic ball out of the box. "Pete, you tell him why."

Peter, who had tangled himself between three strings of fairy lights, looked up as nauseated as if James had asked for him to retake his arithmancy N.E.W.T. Sirius suspected that he had thrown himself into the tangle of lights exactly to get out of questions like this. Everything made Peter nervous these days. The poor sod, not even while decorating trees could the lad get his head of the war.

"I'm- I- sorry, I wasn't listening. What should I tell him about?"

"Tell me, what happened to Prongs, and why has he turned in such an overbearing nancy?"

"Nancy!" James gasped, "That's the pot calling the kettle-" "Black?"

Sirius' eyes widened playfully, making James' brows furrow even deeper. "I hate your bloody name." He grumbled, taking another ornament just to throw it at Sirius' head.

"Oh so this is why they're plastic really!" Sirius taunted, catching the ball in his hands with the agility to rival a seeker. He aimed for James' head and side-eyed Peter as he shuffled back to retreat in his fairy lights. Honestly, it seemed like he wasn't making any progress at all.  
"Up high, James!"

James caught the ball above his head and hung it in the tree. "Honestly, mate." He said calmly, ducking to take two balls from the box. "At least make it a challenge."

Sirius tutted, taking his own ammunition from the box. "Two to zero is barely a challenge, Prongs."

Soon there were christmas ornaments over the entire livingroom, the tree emptier than the floor, Sirius in a chokehold by James on top of the ground, a ball threathened to be stuffed in a mouth like on a pricewinning pig one found at the dinner table this time of year. Peter excused himself to the toilet, tripped out of his fairylights and stepped right on top of one of the ornaments.

The loud crack that followed was too hard to be caused by that accident, and as a second crack followed, they recognised it as the sound of apparating.  
  
James ceased, the ball rolled over the ground, and the two black haired wizards stared at each other, eyes wide with the sort of fear they hadn't experienced since James' parents died.

"James started it!" Sirius yelped, morphing into his animagus form so quickly that James grabbed at his fur with a startled cry before being thrown off. Sirius skidded over to the kitchen, the nails of his padded feet scratching over the wooden floor and skilfully manoeuvring through the scarlet balls on the ground.

He circled around Remus, whom had his arms full with big paper bags containing the last of the Christmas shopping, and was eyeing the floor with badly concealed amusement.  
  
Next to him, Lily had apparated with the tiny baby Harry in a carrier on her chest. Sirius knew she wasn't going to pet him either, she looked from Sirius to James, whom was still sprawled on the ground, with the sort of disappointed glower one only gained alongside motherhood.

"Why are you like this!" She cried hopelessly. "I only asked you to decorate! I thought it would be fun to take your mind of things!"

James scribbled upright rushing to his hormonal wife's side. "It did, Lils, honestly! We got in a bit of a row, about plastic balls. We'll clean it up!" He threw her a charming smile, and Sirius nudged her hand with his great head, before shifting back to human and taking away some of Remus' burden.

"You bought plastic balls, and yet managed to break them." Remus snorted incredulously.

"That was Wormtail." James and Sirius said in an immediate synchronised saving of their own skin.

"Where _is_ Peter?" Remus mused out loud, shoving the rest of the bags into James' arms.

"He flushed himself."

"I'd flush myself too if I were him." Lily grumped, and stalked towards the kitchen to put down her own groceries.

Sirius watched as Remus pulled out his wand and casted _reparo_ on the broken ball, then, carefully levitated the ornaments in the tree one by one. Classic Remus. He'd fix the world if it would make the tension leave the room.

Sirius brought the groceries to the kitchen, and gave Lily's cheek a wet smooch. Her pout turned up into the lightest of smiles. "Stop kissing my arse and go keep your boyfriend from cleaning up after yours." She said, ushering him out of the way.

Sirius saw the strain on her face as she rubbed her back, looked at the sleeping form of baby Harry on her chest. Postnatal effects, Lily called that strain. Sirius wondered how much of that was real, and how much of it really had to do with the insomnia Lily acquired worrying at her infant child. ' _Profecy'_

"Could I at least absolve you from my godson?" He offered.  
Lily sighed in relief, and clicked at the buckles of the carrier. "God, yes."

Sirius took him over, ditching the carrier almost immediately, (He hated the stupid thing.) and rocked Harry softly, his little face against the soft fabric of his black jumper.

He swayed into the room with him, finding James in Peter's previous place, trying to untangle the mess by prodding his wand into the knots.

Remus had his wand still dancing in the air with concentration. His hair was mussed up and the bags under his eyes were a darker purple than bruised skin. Tired, but functioning. Ever his Moony.

Watching Remus cast magic was like watching a machine work, structured, rhythmic, calmly. Like it was a chore that someone had to do. Though, Sirius supposed, maybe that was because he _was_ doing a chore that someone had to do. He would feel bad, if Remus didn't love the distraction so much.

"So much for a muggle Christmas, lads." He offered. James hummed, a little deflated, but Remus turned to look at him, smiling hesitantly.

"Muggles call Christmas the most magical time of the year as well. We can just blame this bit on that."  
He sighed a little, and in that little sigh, Sirius could see all his exhaustion that he had hidden so well in the past days building up to the great Christmas spectacle.

"The lights are supposed to go in before the balls." He muttered.

Sirius stepped next to him, pulling his own wand out. "It's alright if they fall out, Moony." Sirius said, matching Remus' careful movements as he joined in with the levitating charm. He grinned cheekily at him. "They're plastic."

There was a loud snapping sound and James groaned out a muffled; 'Godricks balls'. Both Sirius and Remus turned to look at him, and found their black haired friend with a frayed cable in both of his hands, wand clenched between his teeth.

Sirius let out a guffaw so loud that it shook Harry awake, and Remus dropped his lifted ball along with his concentration. The werewolf choked charmingly on his own spit, and doubled over in laughter.

The door to the hallway creaked open, and Peter stepped in. He had one hand wrapped around his forearm, slightly white faced and biting his lip in the way that Sirius could no longer unsee as rat-like. The smallest Maurauder glanced at his friends, and his chubby face lid up like the fairylights no longer could, chuckles bubbling up from him.

"And here we see the majestic stag in his natural habitat," he said, putting up his best narrating voice. Sirius snorted out a laugh, joining in. They had played this game over a hundred times since Remus has introduced them to animal documentaries. "Hooves for hands, shit for brains-" "Your average Prongeus Destructor, infamous under small prey for his small amount of patience and excessive aggressive behaviour." Remus finished off. They all laughed, Harry cried out cheerfully on Sirius' chest at the sound.

James then rolled his eyes and cast the second repairing spell of the hour on the fairylights. Something went wrong, or rather, right, as the lights started flickering cheerfully in James' hands. "Good thing I'm also quite the fixer." He said proudly, chasing the lights into the tree with a flick of his wand.

"Excessive aggression, big words from a werewolf, Moony." Peter sniggered, apparently cured from his nervousness.

In the past months, Peter had picked up on making remarks towards Remus that were often too snidely to really be funny. Actually, they weren't funny at all. They were the reason that held them back from gatherings like these. Spy in the order. Death eaters in the ministry. Nearly every single member of Sirius' family supportive of Voldemort.

 _'Bloodtraitor_.'

Voldemort recruiting dark creatures into his legion, promising the world.

 _'Werewolf_.'

Since when did typical Maurauder-ish banter cut so deep. Since when had their deep, deep trust been anything but inarguable?

Sirius felt an annoyed throb in his chest that made him want to beat the nervousness back into the little man. Or perhaps it was just Harry who was slamming his collarbone too enthusiastically. Maybe it was just that little fist that made Sirius remember; 'shush, Christmas spirit.' After all, Remus just smiled.

-

Once the tree was up, Lily came in with a peace offering in five mismatched mugs.

Peter took his from her tray with a quick smile, quickly bending back over the desk he was sitting at. He was writing colourful Christmas cards to his family. _Muggle family_ he had stated explicitly, meaning James nor Sirius were allowed to hex the cards into spouting Christmas coloured glitter.

James was in his dads chair, scoffing and reading parts that he found incredulous from the Daily Prophet out loud. He held Lily's arm as she offered him his mug, trying to point out an article. Lily kissed his unruly mop of hair and pressed the cup harder into his hand and Sirius wondered when his best friend would notice that his wife tried to stay as far away from the taunting newspaper as she could, losing sleep well enough as it was.

Sirius had pillowed himself on the sofa with Remus and Harry. Sirius' feet were on Remus' lap, Remus leaned against him, and Harry laid comfortably nested between his godfather's pulled up legs. Sirius was reading the little boy from a book containing muggle Christmas stories, and both Harry and Remus were starting to doze away.

"Remus." Lily prompted softly, making him startle up slightly from Sirius knees. He gave a pleased sigh as he took his mug from her, painted grindylows swimming over the ceramic with grumpy faces. Sirius' nose had picked the scent of chocolate ever since she had stepped into the room, and it only showed how deep Remus must have been in thought for him to only notice the smell now.

"You're an angel, Lily." He sighed, bringing the mug towards his nose.  
"Takes one to know one." Lily said, and Sirius couldn't agree more, even though they probably did not consider _him_ an angel.

Sirius peered over at her from the rim of the large copy of a _Christmas Carol_. Then scowled as his hair was ruffled and his mug was set upon the coffee table. His mug had snitches on that flew around in a frenzy because of the warmth.

Sirius liked his drink scorning hot, but he wasn't ready to lose the warmth of yet another sleepy boy.  
And Lily knew this, for when he didn't budge, she sighed and reached out to lift Harry up.

"Noooo!" Sirius wailed, sitting up so he could protect the little boy from being taken away. He gave Lily his best puppy eyes, but she just flicked his forehead.

"He's got to feed, Sirius." She sighed at him.  
"I can do it!"

Lily's eyes widened slightly, and pulled back. Then set her hands into her sides, tilting her head.  
"James, Sirius wants to have your son suck his tits again. Please intervene."

"Ew Lily!" Remus scoffed, nearly chocking on his hot chocolate.  
"Just feeding!" Sirius protested, not defending his cause with this at all.

James folded his paper, leaning forward. "Stop making Harry into a shirt lifter. Go ask Remus if you need your tit sucked." Peter turned around at the desk to mingle in a much needed "Ew, James!" Of his own.

"It's kind of his namesake anyway, right? Sucking dog tits?" James continued.

"A wolf." Remus mumbled defensively, but he had his face hidden in his arm as he leaned against Sirius. His ears were pink.

Sirius held Harry out to Lily, wryly. "Ugh, never mind." He said, "You ruined it."

-

"It's Christmas eve!" James said, bored of his paper, and stuffed with the roast beef with peas and mash that Sirius had generously whipped up in attempt to show that he could indeed, _feed_.  
"We need to do something fun."

He turned to Peter, who looked up a bit startled from eating his candy cane. "Pete, what do muggles do for fun on Christmas eve."

"I um- they watch the telly, or tell stories... play games I guess-" James was nodding vigorously. "Right, games are fun. We should play something."

Sirius jumped up, vouching immediately for his favourite parlour game. "Hints!" He called.

"Christmas themed then please." Remus pleaded. And Sirius figured that his perfected imitation of Snivelling Snape probably wouldn't be accepted into the Spirit of Christmas. Pity.

"To bollocks with hints." James said, making Sirius gasp. "We always play hints. I want to do something real Christmassy."

"Why," Lily sighed, "don't I tell you the muggle story of why we celebrate Christmas."

"Oh please do," Sirius said enthusiastically, "I can't wait to hear why muggles put up coloured balls into spruces." He didn't mention how much he loved Lily's story voice because certainly she would be smug about it.

And Lily started, she set the story in Bethlehem and it took Remus a minute to explain where exactly that was, because even Lily shamefacedly admit that she didn't know.

She told them about Mary and Joseph and the angel Gabriel and James laughed his arse off because how dumb could that old man be to believe that his 'god' had impregnated his young wife.  
Sirius laughed too then, and asked if this was still Christian and not Ancient Greek mythology because he knew a thing or two about horny gods, and then Remus smacked them both with old Mrs. Potter's handsomely embroidered pillows.

And that mostly shut them up for the rest of the story. At the end, however, Sirius' questions about the balls and trees were still unsolved, but Peter beat him to the question with a small voice that made everyone look up. Peter had been uncharacteristicly quiet during the entirety of the story.

"Harry's a bit like baby Jesus, isn't he?"

Even Harry looked at Peter at the mention of his name and cooed softly as he leaned forward on James' lap. The rest wasn't quite as pleased. Lily's eyes were wide, horrified and glossy as she looked at her son. ' _Profecy.' 'Distraction_.'

"Oh yes! Lily, we should put him in a manger and make a few pictures, imagine how cute it would be in his picture book." Said Remus, because his mind was build on creating distraction and saving the situation. And Sirius squeezed his shoulder a little harder because he had felt even Remus tense for a moment at the tactless statement.

Lily breathed. "Oh." She said, "that would be cute."

And then James pointed his wand to his chin and grew a beard as Lily had described. "Then I'll be Joseph."

Evidently Lily was Mary, and Sirius volunteered as king.  
"Which king?" Peter asked curiously as Sirius transfigured a mug into a shiny crown.

"Psh Pete, please." Sirius said, flamboyantly swinging his black locks from his face as he put the crown on his head. "I'm pretty sure I count for three kings at once."

"You buy Harry enough gifts for it at least." Remus chuckled, and Sirius kissed his face and told Remus he should be the shepherd so he could run after sheep. Remus decided he liked the irony, and transfigured a quill on the coffee table into a crooked staff.

"I'll just make the picture-" Peter mumbled, but James had already turned a blanket into a set of wings and pinned them to Peters back. Peter yelped.

Lily had gathered the camera and as no one really knew how to transfigure a manger, James just held harry up in his arms. James faked a pained expressions as his baby boy pulled at his beard and the distraction seemed complete.

"Mischief managed?" Sirius whispered into Remus' ear." Remus smiled, butting him slightly with his staff. "I hardly think this counts as mischief Pads." Sirius grinned cheekily and nuzzled Remus neck. "There's still a bottle of fire whiskey in the kitchen?" He offered. Remus laughed breathlessly shivering slightly against him. "You dog."

The rest of Christmas eve went flawlessly as they shared old memories from school days over the bottle of whiskey. Harry was brought to bed, Lily laid rolled up against James and laughed along as they recalled the silliest endeavours.

And they had fun, and they laughed, and they were distracted, until the fireplace flared up and the beaten face of Alastor Moody flooed itself into the Potters living room.

And suspicious behaviour around the house of the Longbottoms was enough to send out most of the order. So James and Sirius were send out, because they made the best duelling duo, and Remus and Lily stayed home because Remus had outstanding defensive magic, and Lily had ran up the stairs as soon as Moody had appeared. Peter was more helpful on the field, and he already had his wand out. They all knew the drill by now.

And Sirius had apparated away before he could see it. But Remus later told him how he had spread a blanket under the tree and sat down with Lily to sing Christmas songs until both mother and son had fallen asleep.

Peter and Sirius returned on the early Christmas morning. Peter went to the guest room to sleep in the single bed that had been Sirius' for his entire sixteenth year.

Sirius joined Remus on the couch that had either been transfigured or expanded by muggle-magic. He pressed his face into his shoulder and told him in impassive whispers about the muggle family that had been butchered, and the three death eaters whose lives had been taken back as payment by the order.

He didn't tell him that it was yet another Black that had been wearing one of the masks, and he didn't tell him about _the damned_ _werewolf_ Moody had shouted at as he avoided all blasting curses and growled at them with shiny eyes.

Because, he had slapped his friend for suggesting it, but what if Peter was right. Dark creatures were treated better on the other side of the war. He loved Remus, and he trusted-

And Remus was still as he stroked Sirius' back comfortingly. Sirius noticed that he was shaking slightly. Remus was excellent at distracting, but how long could one distract to idleness and ignorance before the situation became too great to ignore?

He was wide awake as he heard the sound of the front door close and heard his best friend sit down on old Mr. Potter's chair and gain control of his quiet sobs. As quiet as he was, it woke Remus and his sleeping breathing changed in a struggled one against Sirius' chest.

Sirius felt wetness on his shirt, and held his breath because tears from Remus were as mythical as extraterrestrial life; ought to be out there, all things considered. But no one had ever actually seen proof.

He felt his heart drop in his chest because the war had ruined even that already, hadn't it. He felt rotten and disgusting because he had no right to distrust his lover who would crawl to hell and back for all of them. And yet.

James heaved deeply, wiped his nose and walked the stairs to his bedroom.

"I love you, Remus Lupin." He whispered against tawny locks.  
Remus froze instantly.  
"Happy Christmas, Pads." He whispered back, voice as still as the night. Sirius could feel his lips form a smile from where he was pressed to him.

Distraction was possible for long as both parties wished, Sirius decided.

-

And the morning was brighter because Remus had rolled on top of him and kissed him a 'Happy Christmas' once again and let Sirius sleep in longer as he prepared breakfast with James.

He woke again to the smell of burned toast, baked eggs and the sound of James infamous falsetto singing voice that had embraced the greatness of the Christmas tree along with Remus' warm laughter.  
There were few things that felt more like home.

He wiggled himself out of his blanket and ran a hand through his messy hair, then gained sight of Lily by the muggle record player.  
  
"Morning Lily." He yawned, immediately gaining his arms full of happy Harry.  
"Morning! Hold him for a bit, I'm looking for some Christmas records." She informed him.

Harry was dressed in a godawful Christmas jumper with a large reindeer on, but not even Sirius morning moodiness could describe the boy as anything but adorable.

Harry peered curiously at him with large green eyes and pulled at his bed headed hair. "Paaaad." He cheered.

And suddenly there was no war, because while Harry was their biggest threat, he was their biggest distraction as well.

Lily put on _John Lennon_ , because she was a twenty one year old girl and she had loved the _Beatles_ , and his death had made his songs only more meaningful to muggle born wizards.

Sirius nuzzled against his godson's nose as the record player asked him; _**and what have you done?**_

 _'I grew up.'_ He realised _, 'We all did'_

_**So this is Christmas, I hope you have fun.** _

Sirius chuckled and tickled Harry's belly as he eagerly kicked with his legs. They did. Despite all, they always did. And the song made him waver because he did not need to have small angelic children tell him that the war was over if he wanted it.

And so he stood up with Harry in his arms and grumbled to Lily, who was setting the table.

"What did that Lennon know about war anyway. Hippie fool with his long hair and ripped jeans. "

Lily burst out in laughter, pricking through the dark comment with refound lighthearted Lily-ness. "Honestly Sirius, that's the pot-"

"Don't say it!" James burst in with a tray of food flying after him. "He just makes these obvious hypocritical statements so he can shame you for the name-pun!"

"You shame yourself, they're good!" Sirius said, sticking out his tongue as he sat down and bounced Harry.

"No Pete?" Remus asked worriedly, carrying a pot of tea over to the table.

"Had another nightmare. I told him we would save him some." James said emphatically.

"He should listen to John and Yoko." Lily grinned, prodding Sirius' side conspiringly. "War is over if he wants it."

Sirius grinned back, but he hoped none of them would, because if they really wanted it to be over, it meant giving up.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
